Stained Red
by Frozen Under Winter's Touch
Summary: The murder of long ruling leader Stonestar shakes the four clans, leaving the solving of the murder up to the cats of Earthclan.


**I'm starting a new Warriors Story, even though I've gotten so many requests to finish The Cave. It's been so long since I've updated it, so I apologize. But please read and review this one :)**

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"_Moonpaw!" _The screech of Flowernose's annoyed voice cut through Moonpaw like a knife. She whipped upright in her nest, eyes once previously drowsy with sleep now fully awake.

"You haven't helped Stonestar with his morning duties. What use is a medicine cat if you don't do your job?" The young warrior growled, before padding away with her tail trailing angrily in the dirt.

Moonpaw had never forgotten her duties before, not since the day she'd been welcomed to the clan as a medicine cat apprentice. Her life as a kit was uneventful, no littermates, and a weak mother, dead father. Embracing her duties with medicine and herbs was something she enjoyed.

As a kit, she was reluctantly dragged into play fights with the others in the nursery, but one day, they went too far. A mouse was trapped in one of the hollow trees just outside the base of camp. They had snuck out, forcing Moonpaw to watch as well, as they attempted to catch the mouse. Moonpaw had eaten fresh-kill before, so she knew the taste, and was fine with it. But something about the squeals of pain from the mouse and the life fading from its beady black eyes made her vomit.

So she did. Right into the thornbushes.

The kits made fun of her for the rest of her time in the nursery, but she couldn't shake the feeling.

It's the idea of killing something that made her sick to her stomach.

That's why she chose to become a medicine cat. She simply couldn't face warfare, or fights.

Her mentor, Leaftree, was very kind, yet old. It had always seemed she had some sort of issue with Stonestar, though she refused to elaborate why to Moonpaw. Stonestar was very old, rumored to be on his last life. He did not lead battles anymore, or fight. The travels to full moon gatherings between the clans were hard for him, and he only went to one or two per season, leaning heavily on Tigerlily, the deputy, each time.

Tigerlily was more like their leader. She led fights, hunting trips, made important decisions for the clan. Everyone knew that Stonestar was as much good as an Elder, old and weak, but he was chosen by Starclan to live this long. There was a deep rooted respect for Stonestar in the clan, though it felt like the anticipation for a new leader was always there.

At least, that's what Moonpaw had been told. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was not as much respect for Stonestar as there was an edgy sort of fear.

Back to the present, Moonpaw stumbled from her nest underneath the cedar tree that sat a little ways away from the busy camp. The sky was bright, though filled with a silvery gray haze.

Something suspicious hung in the air. Something that made Moonpaw shiver down her spine, but she shoved the feeling deep down into a pit in her stomach. She focused on the task at paw, and padded to the large fox barrow that had been made into the den. Being underground made some cats anxious, but the musky smell of dust and dirt comforted Moonpaw.

Her paws shook as she unwrapped leafy bundles to paw around for the right herbs. She looked down at the fur covering her pink pads, and felt sick. Just a bit, but the feeling was still there.

She stilled. _Breathe. _She thought to herself.

She batted a small ball of cobwebs into a flat circle on the ground, then covered it with flat leaves to protect the herbs from getting caught in the web. Then she began her work. She chewed up coltsfoot petals for shortness of breath, and a bit of tansy to help coughing. She smoothed the herbs into a poultice and rolled it into the leaves.

Next, she got to work on prepping the mouse bile. Stonestar didn't often have ticks, but it was her job to check him every day. She left the den, running to collect some fresh moss by the stones near the entrance of camp.

A stream ran through her woody territory, with large round rocks that grew fresh moss. All the cats in Earthclan knew to collect the best moss there. Had Moonpaw not overslept, she would've collected it like usual.

However, the crunchier moss that scattered the trees nearer to camp would have to do today. Rolling it into a ball, she slathered it in the bile (wrinkling her nose as the smell invaded her senses) and stored it behind the Medicine den. She quickly washed the smell of her paws in the puddles in the mud, then grabbed the secure bundle of herbs in her jaw. As she walked by the food pile, she grabbed a dead sparrow in her jaws as well.

Stonestar didn't eat a lot in the morning, but he had to eat to keep his strength up.

She made the struggle of a climb up High rock to his den, which was covered up with the leaves from the tree branches growing on the cliff above. Dropping the items in her jaw, she yowled her appearance.

"Stonestar! It's Moonpaw!" She yowled. She waited for the reply, like she did every day. However, today there was no sarcastic groaning of an old and outlived elder. There was only an eerie silence ringing throughout.

"Stonestar?" Moonpaw called again, hesitantly. Her voice carried louder. She hoped that Flowernose, who loved to pick on the apprentices, would hear her from where she barked at the kits and come to help. Something was not right. Moonpaw could not shake the feeling that something was not right.

It was against her orders. Still. She couldn't help herself, and pawed at the curtain and stepped into the musky cave.

What she was met with was a pool of blood, where the body of Stonestar lay dead in the center, a long and ragged gash torn across his neck.

Moonpaw's scream could be heard from the faraway Mountains as she collapsed into the ground.


End file.
